Thursday, October 18, 2012

Hi everyone,
Tomorrow is my last day at Next Generation Gatman St. I am having a much needed operation on my ankle of which will need three weeks of rest before I return to teaching. When I return I am very lucky to be part of the new teaching team at the new Next Generation in Birkenhead.
I would like to say a huge thank you to all the staff, children and families of the Gatman Centre for their support over the last five years.I have very much enjoyed spending time with the most amazing children who have given us all many laughs,
contributing to many thrilling conversations and discussions with all their antics they get up to.
It really isnt goodbye to you all as I will be floating around and will see you all at the Christmas Party, if not before at the new centre.
Best wishes to you all
Lorraine

Friday, October 12, 2012

White
Paper will save many, but comes with ‘fish hooks’

The
White Paper for Vulnerable Children is likely to see many saved from neglect
and abuse, but comes with ‘fish hooks’, says the largest representative body
of licensed early childhood centres in New Zealand.

Early
Childhood Council (ECC) CEO Peter Reynolds said today (11 October) that his
organisation was concerned about the idea that everyone working with children
should report suspected abuse or neglect.

“If this
was not handled very carefully, there was risk of ‘irreparable damage’ to
relationships of trust between teachers and at-risk families”, he said.

“The
result might be reluctance to attend early childhood education or reluctance to
seek help from teachers. And the consequences of this could be increased
vulnerability for some children.”

Mr
Reynolds said, however, that the white paper addressed significant omissions in
the current system, and was likely ‘to result in substantial improvements
overall’.

The ECC
was especially supportive of both the requirement for different agencies to
work more closely together, and the web-based system that would enable
child-focused workers to access and contribute to a national database on
vulnerable children, he said.

‘Abused
children tend to be transient and hard to keep tabs on. These two changes,
jointly, will mean they will be less likely to disappear from the radar.’

Mr
Reynolds said the ECC supported the idea that workers such as teachers should be
better trained to recognise the signs of abuse and to take effective action.

And
supported also the establishment of the proposed Child Protect telephone line
for the public to report child abuse.

There
remained, however, ‘a question mark over whether or not the aspirations of the
White Paper will be financed adequately’.

The
Early Childhood Council has more than 1100 early childhood member centres,
about 30% of which are community-owned and about 70% of which
are commercially owned. Its members employ more than 7000 staff,
and care for tens of thousands of children.